VIII.
Maira and Vanessa simply sat on Vanessa's front porch, trying to convince themselves that their children were alright. They had to listen to yet more screams; this time they were from a boy. Vanessa had a hard time convincing herself that they were not Jamie's.
"What could make someone scream like that?" asked Vanessa over the latest batch, which were two times louder than before. "It's like someone's being tortured…" Maira didn't answer. She had just remembered a letter Ernie had sent them, back in September, about his first Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
"Moody's teaching us about the Unforgivable Curses in class. Avada Kedavra had a big effect on Potter, and the Cruciatus had an effect on Neville Longbottom, from Gryffindor. Potter's reaction was kind of obvious, but Longbottom's? How could using a torturing curse on a spider have a big effect on him?"
Maira had remembered, then, nearly thirteen years ago, when the attack on Frank and Alice Longbottom had been front-page news on the Daily Prophet. She knew perfectly well why the Cruciatus Curse had an effect on Longbottom, but if Ernie didn't know, she wasn't going to be the one to tell him. But those screams, indeed, sounded as if some person was being tortured beyond imagining. Who was doing it, and to whom?
Thankfully, no more screams came for another fifteen minutes or so, but when they did come, they were so constant that by the time they were finished, their ears were ringing.
"That didn't sound like one person," said Vanessa, "That sounded like about thirty different people…"
Maira was only half-listening; she was absorbed in her own thoughts. If that was indeed the Cruciatus Curse being used over and over, then there must be Dark Wizards here – in Little Hangleton. But who was it? Voldemort was still weakened and half-dead, and his Death Eaters were either in Azkaban, in hiding, dead, or cleared. Maira's idea of this was, "Once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater." She didn't believe that Severus Snape or Lucius Malfoy had renounced the Dark Arts, no matter what Dumbledore or the Ministry said.
Lost in her reverie, she was rudely awakened when yet more screams echoed up from…wherever they were coming from. These were from a different person, not like any of the others. And yet, that voice sounded strangely familiar…
Vanessa began to sob. "Something horrible is happening to Jamie, I can feel it!"
"Who would want to hurt Jamie?" Maira said over the screams. She waited for them to stop before he went on, "He doesn't have any enemies…"
"Where are all these screams coming from?" Vanessa asked.
"I don't know," Maira said. Nothing happened for a few minutes. Then even louder screams came up. These, unlike the others, sounded like they could be a girl's, as they were much louder and high-pitched. She had never heard screams like that, not even from the others under the Cruciatus Curse.
"Do you think they will ever stop?" Vanessa said suddenly. "Do you think the people who are causing them will go away?"
"Only time will tell."
They sat, side by side, for a moment, taking in all the horrors the night had brought. They were completely silent for a few minutes, but soon even more screams filled the night air. These continued for a few minutes, then after a short pause, more screams, again strangely familiar, started. These horrendous, ear-splitting screams continued for minutes on end, and they were gradually getting louder and louder. Finally, after five minutes they stopped. Maira's brain was spinning. What sane person would torture for another for that long?